


Lines

by Sachiela



Series: Voltron Secret Santa Make-up Gifts [12]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Keith wants to help, M/M, Massages, Voltron Secret Santa 2018, mid-season 2ish?, shoulder pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 06:51:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18805939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sachiela/pseuds/Sachiela
Summary: It’s after the third night Keith wakes up to get a glass of water and finds Shiro pacing around the kitchen and working his shoulder in circles that he knows something has to be done.





	Lines

**Author's Note:**

> For msonfe on Tumblr.
> 
> You said you didn't have any particular request, so I came up with this. I hope you enjoy.

It’s after the third night Keith wakes up to get a glass of water and finds Shiro pacing around the kitchen and working his shoulder in circles that he knows something has to be done. 

“Hey, Lance,” he calls as they’re about to leave the training room for the day, glad when he stops without a fuss. They had all worked well together, though Keith could tell Shiro was responding slower than usual and it just hardened his resolve. “Can I talk to you for a bit?”

Shiro gives him a curious look, raising one eyebrow, but Keith shakes his head and waves him on. There’s nothing for the black paladin to worry about here.

“Yeah, sure, but can I get a shower first? I really don’t want to stay in this sweaty armor any longer than I have to and you really shouldn’t either,” Lance replies as his bayard is warped back into his thigh armor. 

Keith smirks at him. “After is fine, as long as you don’t take another hour to get done.” Why not? He can get cleaned up in his room and wait for Lance after. 

“Hey, beauty like this takes time, Mullet!” Lance calls after him. 

Lance does end up taking an hour to finish up, but Keith can’t say he’s surprised at all at this point. He ends up waiting in the kitchen with Hunk as the yellow paladin works on trying to make the goo a little more edible for lunch, making idle conversation until Lance finally makes an appearance. 

“So, what did you want to chat about?” Lance asks as he joins them at the table, snagging a random alien fruit from the bowl in the center of the table to start peeling before nibbling on it. 

Keith crosses his arms over his chest, heard Shiro scolding him in his head for looking too defensive, and relaxes his posture. There’s really no point in beating around the bush either. “Shiro’s shoulder has been giving him a hard time lately. I think the weight of the metal is causing some strain, and I was wondering if you could help? I know you helped Pidge when she landed on her shoulder wrong during training a few weeks ago.”

Nodding his understanding, Lance sits back in his seat. “I can definitely do what I can to help him out, if he’ll let me. But that’s likely one that’s going to need constant attention, unlike a one-time injury like Pidge’s. It might be better if I just...teach you? If you loosen it up a little at a time every night, it’ll probably be a lot easier for him.”

“Yeah, that would be great, actually,” Keith replies, lighting up. Having an actual way to help Shiro himself would be a godsend, especially since he seems to be the one catching him up every night.

“Big guy, you cool with taking your shirt off and being our model for a little bit?” Lance asks Hunk with a grin. Hunk laughs, doing as asked and settling on a chair in front of them so Lance can demonstrate. It takes a bit of time to get it all down and Keith makes sure to keep asking questions when he doesn’t understand. He wants to get this right, dammit. 

He makes sure to thank both Lance and Hunk for their time after, and even if they wave him off, he can tell they appreciate it. He’s definitely getting better working with the team and he hopes it continues.

*~*~*~*

Later that evening, as everyone else leaves the common room to head to their respective quarters, Keith figures it’s as good a time as any to see if this will actually help Shiro.

“Something on your mind, Keith?” Shiro asks softly, looking ready to get up himself. 

Keith gestures to the floor space in front of him. “Would you...would you mind sitting there in front of me? And taking off your shirt?”

Shiro raises an eyebrow at him with a teasing smirk, making Keith blush and point more forcefully to the spot he wants Shiro to be. “Okay, okay, so what’s up?” the black paladin asks as he does as directed, definitely wincing and trying to hide it as pulling off his shirt pulls his shoulder tight.

“So, I was talking to Lance earlier--”

“That sounds ominous.”

Keith lightly smacks Shiro’s flesh arm. “Anyway, I was talking with him earlier, and he showed me something that might help your shoulder, if you’re interested?”

“Yeah, we can give it a try. Doubt it can make things any worse than it already feels,” Shiro replies, settling more comfortably on the floor. 

“Please don’t say that,” Keith mumbles. He can feel nerves rising up now that Shiro’s thrown that out there and shoves them aside. If he does it all like he was told, nothing like that would happen. Shiro’s just being his usual self.

He starts by just feeling along the lines of muscle in Shiro’s right shoulder and upper arm, finding the lines of tension that he’d been taught to look for. Shiro is definitely way more tense than Hunk had been, and Keith keeps in mind that he won’t be able to get this all out in one go. But if this helps Shiro, he doesn’t imagine he’d object at all if Keith offered to do this a little every evening to keep loosening it up. 

Plan of action decided upon for this time, though, he takes a deep breath and begins gently pushing on the worst of the knots, wanting to work it out slowly. “This might feel sore or something, but if it actually hurts, please tell me. I wanna make sure I’m doing this right.”

Shiro hums in understanding. “No worries. I’ll let you know.”

It’s quiet after that, all of Keith’s concentration on Shiro’s shoulder and the other taking great care not to disturb him as he works. Before too long, Keith’s hands start to feel sore and he has to stop for fear of not being able to use his bayard in training tomorrow (or in actual combat if there’s an attack). He smooths his hands over the skin a few times, pleased to note that even if he couldn’t get all of it just yet, there’s definitely a lot less tension than there had been before. “How are you feeling?”

“A lot better, I think. Thanks,” Shiro says as he slowly rotates his arm. Keith can see that his range of motion is much better than it was during training and sighs in relief. 

“You okay with me trying to do a little most evenings to help?” Because just doing it the once would only help for so long, he knew.

“If you’re just looking for an excuse for me to get my shirt off, there are much easier ways.”

Keith laughs and gives Shiro a gentle shove. “You ass.”


End file.
